


i would ask you to marry me (if you would just let me)

by SolariaLunar21



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Fic, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Proposals, failed ones, like legit one small line you would miss if you were skimming, mentions of Perrie/Zayn - Freeform, mentions of Zayn not being in the band, mentions of past Harry/OMC, slight amount of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3841378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolariaLunar21/pseuds/SolariaLunar21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry deciding to propose to Liam is simple, the band is on a break, they’ve been dating two years, been public for a year, and he knows Liam’s the one. Finding a ring is surprisingly simple when it gets down to it. What isn’t simple though is the actual proposal and that’s where Harry keeps running into trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i would ask you to marry me (if you would just let me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oreganseal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oreganseal/gifts).



> So I took your last prompt of Harry being annoyed with Liam but loving him anyways, I don't know how much it shows through but this is a bunch of Liam inadvertently propose blocking himself so I hope you like it! I also didn't write any smut because you didn't include any of your do not likes and figured it would be best to steer clear of any smut just in case I touched on something that you weren't a fan of.
> 
> Also loadddssss of thanks to my beta [hybryd0](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/profile) who helped with a bunch of the little details and its awesome all around!

Harry deciding to propose to Liam is simple, the band is on a break, they’ve been dating two years, been public for a year, and he knows Liam’s the one. Finding a ring is surprisingly simple when it gets down to it. What isn’t simple though is the actual proposal and that’s where Harry keeps running into trouble.  
  
**ONE:**

The first time Harry tries to propose to Liam is their first date night in almost a month. Even though the band’s on a break they’ve both been spending time together and separately with their families and friends and haven’t had much time to just go out with one another. So Harry gets them a reservation at their favorite restaurant, Nola’s, and starts to think about how exactly he wants to do it. He knows that he can be a bit cheesy sometimes and that Liam appreciates that but deep down he knows that Liam’s not one for big theatrics. In the end he decides to do it before the dessert and even speaks with the pastry chef and asks if they can make Liam’s favorite specially to surprise him after the proposal as a gift.

The best part about Nola’s is that it’s a bit off the beaten path so they’ve always been able to blend in with the crowd and go unrecognized. Harry’s hoping that factor will work in his favor and make it so that when he does propose it’s not all over the internet within the hour. He knows that it’s a giant risk to do this in public, especially considering the eagle eyes of some of their fans, but Harry knows how much Liam loves doing stuff that normal people would do without having to think about the whole celebrity aspect and a public proposal during a nice quiet evening is just one of them.

When the night finally comes Harry can’t lie and say he isn’t a bit nervous. He suspects that Liam’s aware that something is going on. The other man has been looking at him with his concerned look almost all night but Harry does his best to act normal.

“Are you sure you’re okay Haz? You’re acting a little weird,” Liam asks him finally after they’ve ordered their entrees.

“I’m fine Liam don’t worry okay,” he answers, reaching across the table to take Liam’s hand in his and give it a quick squeeze. Liam still doesn’t look sure, but apparently decides to let it slide as he changes subjects.

“So did I tell you about this singer I saw a few weeks back? He’s got this cool R&B jazz infused sound that I really liked, was thinking about having Lou listen to some of his songs I got off YouTube and see what he thinks ya know?”

“The one with the purple hair?”

"Yeah, I don’t know he was cool and I just like…I want to start getting stuff rolling with the label,” Liam tells him with a shrug of his shoulders.

It hadn’t been a surprise to any of them when Liam and Louis had sat himself, Niall, and even Zayn despite the fact that he was no longer part of the band, down to announce they’d been talking with some people about creating their own label. Now they are just trying to find and sign their first artists and it’s proving to be a bit more difficult than either of them had expected.

“And you will Li, you’ve just got to give it time. I’m sure that you and Louis will find someone soon you both know is going to do great things; whether it’s Purple Haired Guy or some other person or group that you haven’t found yet.”

Liam sighs. “I know, just getting antsy like we’ve been talking about this for so long and now we’re getting it started and it’s so hard to keep all of this a secret because we don’t want to announce anything until we’ve actually got someone to represent, you know?”

“Of course I do babe, you two just need to relax, let the chips fall where they may so to speak.”

“Says the man who almost tweeted a picture of us kissing a week after we’d started dating and hadn’t even put a label on our relationship yet,” Liam quips causing Harry to blush and duck his head.

“I was just happy, still am of course, you’re everything I want Liam,” he answers sincerely loving the way the Liam’s eyes shine and turn soft the way that Harry loves the most.

“You know I feel the same way Hazza, even if it did take me a bit to get there,” Liam replies and Harry knows that this is exactly the moment that he’s been waiting for.

He’s just about to stand up and do it when their waiter brings the plates and kills the mood. Harry sighs and takes his hand out of Liam’s so that their waiter can place their food on the table. They spend their meal talking and joking but Harry can’t fully enjoy it as he grows more nervous the closer they get to the end of the night. The ring box starts to feel heavy in his jacket pocket. When the waiter comes by to get their finished plates Harry slips away to use the restroom and psych himself up.

It’s not that he thinks Liam will say no, he’s 98% sure that Liam won’t, but he still can’t help but be nervous; not like  he was before his first X-Factor audition in front of the judges but still in a way he hasn’t been in a very long time. He knows that Liam loves him but he’s worried Liam might think that they’re too young. Harry doesn’t really think they are.  He just turned 24 and Liam will be 25 in a few months and they’ve done more than most people their age ever have. Splashing water on his face one more time Harry gives himself a nod in the mirror and heads back out to the dining room.

When he reaches the area with their table the sight that greets him brings him up short because Liam isn’t alone. Harry moves closer and quickly realizes that Liam’s new companion is one of their old sound guys, Kevin that worked with them through the Where We Are Tour before getting the head sound position for Taylor’s tour.

“Look who I found Harry!” Liam exclaims when he spots Harry.

“Yeah, uh, hi Kevin.  Long time no see,” he replies a bit awkwardly because well…they’d hooked up a few times and the last time had been pretty embarrassing for Harry when he’d said Liam’s name in the heat of the moment.

“Hi Harry, sorry for crashing your date,” Kevin says giving Harry an apologetic look.

“I hope it’s okay but I just asked Kevin to join us, turns out he got stood up and I saw him sitting down all by himself and I didn’t want that to happen so I invited him over,” Liam says so earnestly Harry can’t really deny him.

“Yeah no that’s fine babe don’t worry,” he replies with a smile ignoring the slight twinge of annoyance that his plans for the night are ruined. There’s no way he’s going to propose to Liam after bumping into an ex-hookup and then having to hear all about how unlucky in love Kevin seems to be. So Harry lets the ring stay in his jacket pocket and drafts up a new plan.

**TWO:**

It takes two weeks for Harry to figure out a new proposal idea and settles on a romantic evening in. He spends a good two hours in their local grocery picking out ingredients for Liam’s favorite dish as well as buying some of Liam’s favorite smelling candles. Thankfully Liam is out for the day running some errands with Louis for the label and he knows that the two were planning on swinging by Zayn’s at some point as well.

Harry takes his time in preparing dinner and planning what outfit he wants to wear all while trying to decide where exactly he wants to propose. He doesn’t want to do it in the dining room right after dinner or in the living room with a movie playing in the background because neither are that romantic and don’t really hold any special memories for either of them. He ultimately settles on what Liam calls the “sun room” a small alcove towards the back of the house overlooking the garden that has one of those windows with the built in seats. Harry knows that Liam loves that little nook of their house the best for writing and he hopes that this will just be another source of inspiration for his boyfriend.

Harry’s just about to take the food out of the oven when he hears the door to the garage open and Liam’s car pull in. It doesn’t take long for Harry to hear the door that leads into the house open but instead of the sounds of just one set of shoes on the floor he hears two.

“Harry? Babe? You home?”

“In the kitchen Li,” he calls as he focuses on cutting up the tomatoes for the salad.                       

He looks up from his task when Liam rounds the corner and sees that he’s got a broody looking Zayn trailing after him. Harry inwardly sighs because he knows that’s Zayn’s, ‘got-in-a-fight-with-Perrie-and-now-we’re-not-speaking’, look. Which means that Harry’s going to be spending the night consoling his friend, who does look sorry for intruding with the way he gives Harry a shrug of the shoulders when he sees him looking.

“Wow, it smells amazing in here babe,” Liam says after he’s rounded the island to kiss Harry on the cheek in greeting.

“Thanks, didn’t know you’d be swinging by Z, everything alright?” he asks even though he’s already sure that it’s not.

“The usual, do you mind if I…” he asks not finishing his sentence but holding up his lighter and a cigarette instead. Harry nods as Zayn walks out of the kitchen and towards the doors that lead to the deck.

“You’re upset,” Liam says as soon as Zayn’s outside.

“What?  No I’m not,” Harry replies, he’s a bit annoyed but he’s not angry or anything.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was bringing him over.  He just looked so upset when I got there after hanging out with Tommo, and I wanted to cheer him up.”

“It’s fine Li don’t worry, just a bit annoyed that I have to postpone my plans,” he answers with a shrug.

“Oh you had plans?” Liam asks with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Yes, very sexy ones, but now we don’t get to partake in my sexy plans, which involved that thing with my tongue you’re so very fond of, so we can take care of our very upset friend,” he replies with a smirk and watches as Liam’s eyes darken a bit at his words.

“You play mean Styles.”

“Ahh but you love me,” he sing songs in reply and chuckles as Liam rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath.

Zayn comes in shortly after their conversation still looking sharp around the edges so Harry takes it upon himself to cheer the other man up. He shoos the two towards the living room and soon after hears the beginning music to the second Avengers movie playing. They end up eating in the living room and watching a couple of the other Marvel movies and joking around well into the night. All told it’s not what Harry expected from his night and even after they send Zayn off in the morning he’s left with going back to the drawing board once again.

**THREE:**

The third time Harry tries to propose isn’t even planned. It starts when Harry has one of those days where nothing goes right. He and Liam are in LA for a couple of weeks and Harry’s been spending time working on a few of his projects including meeting up with various contacts to write. Today though he’s meeting with Ryan Tedder and nothing is working at all. It’s not the first time they’ve worked together but Harry still feels a bit embarrassed that nothing he’s come up with seems to work out right.        

On his way home his motorcycle breaks down so he has to call for a tow truck and just after he hangs up the phone it dies so he can’t even call Liam. To add insult to injury it decides to start raining which it rarely does in LA but today would be the day for it. Once the tow truck gets there he has to go with the guy to the shop and use the phone there so he can call Liam.

“Hey Li it’s me,” he says once Liam picks up the phone.

“Hey babe, you on your way home?”

“I was but my bike broke down,” he sighs down the phone.

“Oh Haz I’m sorry, do you need me to come pick you up somewhere?” Liam asks sounding concerned.

“Got a lift to the shop from the tow truck, phone died as well so I couldn’t ask you to come get me where I was.”

“Aw no that stinks love, look tell me the address and I’ll be there soon okay?”

“Okay,” he says rattling off the address from where he finds it listed on a business card. Thankfully the mechanic loans him a charger for his phone so he's able to get Liam's text telling him that he’s stuck in traffic, because of course he is, and Harry’s stuck in wet clothes for a good two hours as people come in and out of the waiting room and gawk at him. When all is said and done Harry is exhausted and in a horrible mood and wants to just curl up on the couch with Liam and forget the rest of the world exists.

“I’m sorry today was so sucky Hazza, I’ll order us some food from that organic place you like so much and we can cuddle on the couch and watch some Friends,” Liam says once Harry’s in dry clothes and has vented about his horrible no good day.

He hums in response and half listens as Liam calls in their order closing his eyes in peace when Liam starts to run his fingers through his hair. The soothing motions of Liam’s fingers almost lull him to sleep he’s so comfortable surrounded in the other man's love and warmth. It makes a warm ball of feelings settle deep in his belly as a smile comes to his lips just from the thought of being so close to Liam. Harry opens them when the soft laugh track fills the room and he loses himself in the familiarity of one of his favorite shows. Liam lets him sprawl on top of him and he smiles as he feels the other man’s laughter vibrate against his cheek. After a little bit Harry’s gaze drifts away from the TV and he ends up just watching Liam instead. Sometimes when Harry looks at Liam the other man just takes his breath away and it makes him so happy to know that this is who he’s getting to share his life with.

“What’re you looking at me for?” Liam asks after few minutes.

“I love you,” he whispers quite simply because there’s nothing else really to say. His stomach flip flops when Liam’s gaze softens and his smile widens.

“Love you too babe,” Liam replies and as they stare at each other Harry’s heart starts to pound because fuck plans, this right here is his moment.

“Like, you just…you make me so happy, yeah? And I just today was just so horrible and then there’s you. I know you don’t really like the organic place and yet you ordered from there because you know I had a bad day and like you listened to me complain. And it’s just like fuck Liam,” he starts to say as his palms start to grow sweaty and his heart starts racing and the butterflies in his stomach get worse.

“Where are you going with this, Harry?” Liam asks after Harry’s stays silent for a few moments.

“I just, I love you so much and I never thought that I’d find that you know? I mean not since everything in our lives got so topsy turvy and--” he starts to say when all of a sudden he stops talking and the butterflies in his stomach start to creep up his throat and he realizes he’s about to be sick.

“Harry, babe, are you okay?”

“Bin, babe, get me a bin,” he rushes out as he starts to swallow back the urge to be sick and thanks whoever is above that Liam made him put a rubbish bin next to the couch because the other man quickly grabs it for Harry to be sick in.

“Oh Hazza, let it out love,” Liam murmurs as Harry continues to empty the contents of his stomach out. It takes a few more minutes, where Liam holds his hair back for him, until he starts to feel like he can risk putting the bin down and he leans his head back against the couch cushions when he does.

“You don’t feel hot, do you think you ate something bad at lunch?” Liam asks and Harry shakes his head.

“Can’t be, stomach was acting funny before that.  I thought I was just hungry, must’ve been something I ate for breakfast or dinner last night,” he replies.

“Oh no…do you think it could’ve been the eggs?” Liam questions as Harry flashes back to that morning at breakfast when Liam handed him a plate of Sunnyside up eggs and the yolk was runnier than usual. Harry’s about to ask why Liam isn’t throwing up as well if it was the eggs when he remembers that Liam had one of his morning protein shakes for breakfast.

“Fuck probably,” he admits rubbing his forehead feeling a little bit annoyed because once again realizes that he’s been feeling off since before lunch but was putting it down to his nerves and because once again Liam has quite inadvertently stopped Harry from proposing. The rest of the night Harry spends curled up in his giant bathtub as Liam brings him fizzy drinks and bland crackers to try and settle his stomach. He can tell Liam feels guilty about it by the look he keeps giving him and some small part of him feels a teensy bit justified, which just makes him feel worse since he knows Liam didn’t do it on purpose.

**FOUR:**

After his third failed attempt at proposing Harry doesn’t even come up with another idea for a whole month. That is until he remembers a conversation that he and Liam had years before in the dead of night during the Up All Night tour on the bus when neither of them could sleep and gets the best idea. Liam had confessed that when he was little and still in and out of the hospital to cheer him up his parents would plan out scavenger hunts. Harry remembers the way Liam lit up as he talked about the treasure maps his mom would make and the clues his sisters would help write and how much fun he always had on those special days. So Harry decides to set up his own scavenger hunt that will end with a proposal and knows the perfect place to set it up.

“So I have a favor to ask,” he says when he calls Karen a few days after he starts to draft up plans.

“Course what is it Harry?”

“Well you see I uh…I want to ask Liam to marry me”, he pauses when he hears Karen’s intake of breath at his confession and then continues, “and well every time I’ve tried has sort of failed so far and I came up with an idea I think Liam would love and I sort of need your help,” he answers and when he’s done talking he can Karen sniffling on the other end and he knows she’s crying.

“Oh Harry yes of course, you make Liam so happy so of course I’ll be happy to help,” she answers through her tears and Harry smiles as he tells her his idea.

“He once told me that some of his favorite childhood memories were when you put together scavenger hunts for him. So I wanted to set up a scavenger hunt like you did when Liam was little, I thought it would fun.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, you must plan it for when you two come and visit in a couple of weeks,” she exclaims to which Harry agrees quite easily.

They spend about an hour on the phone talking over details and Harry makes her promise to keep it between them and Geoff. Between himself and Karen they have the whole scavenger hunt planned out by the end of the week and Harry has to stop himself from blurting the whole plan out to Liam he’s so excited.

“So…you’ve been acting weird all week, any reason why?” Liam questions on Saturday just a few hours after Harry has gotten the latest e-mail from Karen. She informed him that almost everything is ready which has him equal parts excited and terrified.

“Nope, no reason,” he answers with a smile as he pops a few of the grapes he’s been munching on while they watch a Great British Bake-Off marathon.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, you know I can’t lie for shit, babe,” he reminds Liam.

“Which is exactly why I don’t believe you right now,” Liam says and Harry sighs.

“Can we leave it at me being excited about something that’s a surprise for you?”

“A surprise? Ohhh babe what is it?” Liam asks him, turning away from the TV where he’s sitting on the floor; getting on his knees and looking at Harry with that excited twinkle in his eye that Harry knows is why Liam is compared to an over enthusiastic puppy.

“Telling you sort of ruins the whole point of it being a surprise, Li.”

“Oh c’mon Hazza, just tell me,” Liam says while giving Harry his best puppy dog eyes. Harry almost break but he holds strong.

“Nope, not saying anything,” Harry replies and Liam huffs, turning back towards the TV.

“You’re no fun.”

“I know,” Harry answers seriously reaching a hand down run his fingers through the short length of Liam’s hair as he does.

After that Liam tries to get what Harry’s surprise is out of him every day leading up to the weekend that they’re set to go to Wolverhampton. He drives Harry a bit nuts because he apparently starts bothering the rest of the boys which means he has it coming from four sides instead of one. Harry almost tells Niall because he knows out of the three of them he’s the least likely to inform Liam of the plans, but ultimately stays quiet.

“You’ll find out on Saturday, Liam, okay?” Harry finally tells the other man on Thursday night after he’s dealt with Liam throwing out guesses while he’s cooking dinner. They’ve ranged from a romantic holiday to Harry apparently buying Liam the human sized Woody and Buzz statues that were up for Auction a few weeks before. The fact that Harry did indeed actually buy Liam the Woody and Buzz statues for his birthday and has them hidden in his storage facility that he uses for all the art he’s collected over the years is neither here nor there though.

“You’ve got my mom in on it, don’t you?” Liam then asks.

“Maybe you’ll have to wait and see,” Harry replies as he sautés some mushrooms and shoos Liam out of the kitchen.

They head to Wolverhampton on Friday getting there in time for dinner where Liam ends up interrogating his parents about this surprise that Harry has planned. Harry has to hand it to Karen and Geoff though when they both stay strong, especially Karen because she’s been known to cave to Liam no matter how old her youngest gets.

After dinner Harry disappears with Karen while Geoff and Liam catch up in the living room and go over all the last minute plans.

“So are you getting nervous yet?” she asks as they cut out the clues and glue them onto the construction paper Karen bought for the occasion.

“Been nervous since I bought the ring three months ago to be honest,” Harry answers.

“Well don’t be nervous that he won’t say yes because he will. I know my son and he’s head over heels for you.”

“I feel the same way about him I don’t know if Liam told you but I had a crush on him for forever by the time we got together.”

“Liam didn’t but your mum did earlier this week when we were setting the plans for her to Skype,” Karen replies with a giggle and Harry rolls his eyes because of course his mother did. Harry does flush a little at the reminder that it had been Karen who had asked if his parents were going to be part of the plan as well and Harry had realized he hadn’t even told them that he was proposing. Karen had given him a bit of a tongue lashing and told him to call them, which he had, and while Anne, Robin, and Des couldn’t be there in person like Karen and Geoff would be, they had arranged for them to all either be on Skype or Facetime when it all went down.

They spend the rest of their time after that chatting about what Ruth and Nicola have been up too before joining Liam and Geoff back in the living room. The four of them watch a movie before heading to bed and Harry gets a good chuckle like always over the fact that Liam still has that cut-out of himself in his bedroom from when he was seventeen. He and Liam fall asleep quickly and Harry wakes up bright and early the next day with butterflies already in his stomach.

The plan is for Geoff to take Liam out for the day and for the two of them to visit the Youth Zone that Liam is still involved in. While they’re out Harry and Karen are going to plant all the clues around the house and neighborhood ending in the backyard. The morning goes off without a hitch and soon Harry and Karen are hurrying Liam and Geoff out the door. To Harry’s surprise Ruth and Nicola both show up about thirty minutes after they leave and he puts them to work as well. It takes a good two hours for each clue to be set up in the right place but when it’s done Harry gets fidgety and keeps checking his watch even though he knows Liam’s not supposed to be home for another hour or so.

Just as Harry is about to ask Ruth for the fifth time if she’s sure he should wear the shirt he’s got on or the other one he brought, his phone goes off. Pulling it out of his pocket his brow furrows when he sees that it’s Geoff calling him.

“What’s going on?” he asks as soon as he answers because he can only imagine why Geoff is calling right now.

“Don’t freak out but we’re at the A&E,” Geoff tells him.

“What,” he says dumbly not believing the words he’s just heard. He’s sure that Liam’s not in any real danger because Geoff wouldn’t be so calm if he was, but still his heart is thundering in his chest and he needs to know what’s going on.

“Liam broke his arm,” Geoff informs him calmly, like he’s just talking about the weather.

“Of course he did,” Harry says into the phone as the three woman look at him for explanation.

“Should probably come down here, he’s been asking for you.”

“Yeah, we’re on our way,” Harry replies with a sigh before turning to the woman of the family, “So, it seems my idiot boyfriend decided today would be a good day to break his arm... again,” he tells them. As soon as he does they all jump into action and within five minutes Ruth is driving them to the local A&E where they find Geoff in the waiting room and Liam nowhere in sight.

“What happened?” Karen asks.

“He was playing some footie with a few of the younger kids that were there and slipped in the grass and landed on his arm funny, gave some of them a right scare.”

“Have they told you how bad it is yet?” Harry questions.

“It was a clean break but it was pretty close to his elbow so he’s going to have almost his whole arm in the cast.”

“He’s not going to like that,” Harry groans remembering what Liam was like the last time he broke his arm and how much he hated accepting help.

“He’s waiting for the ortho specialist to come and get the cast put on, but they said that I could take you back there once you got here,” Geoff tells him and Harry nods following the older man back to where Liam is sitting in one of the small private exam rooms.

“Hazza, babe, you’re here!” Liam exclaims when he sees Harry and he knows immediately that they’ve given Liam some of the good stuff.

“That I am, looks like you have some explaining to do though,” Harry says softly taking his uninjured hand in his own.

“Fell funny, hurts,” Liam tells him with a pout.

“I’m sure it does babe.”

“Ruined my surprise, didn’t I?”

“Might’ve done, but it’s okay,” Harry answers nonchalantly even though he’s still a bit disappointed that once again Liam’s diverted him from proposing.

**FIVE:**

After Liam breaks his arm Harry takes a break from planning out proposals. He spends a good amount of time helping Liam with tasks that he can’t do while his arm is in a cast. His repayment is loads of blowjobs which always helps. Liam even seems to forget that Harry even had a surprise for him, which Harry is a bit thankful for. He doesn’t know what he would make up to tell Liam instead of the truth. He might still actually do the scavenger hunt someday, if the world decides to stop being against him.

“Ugh, I can’t wait to get this thing off,” Liam says waving his casted arm around as Harry drives them to the doctor to get it removed.

“I’m sure you can’t, those things are never fun.”

“Do you think the doc will let me keep it?”

“Might do, let my friend Will keep his when we were in primary,” Harry answers glancing at the cast in question as he stops at a red light. Liam had gone with a green cast hopped up on pain meds because he said it was the color of Harry’s eyes. Harry had blushed at that but now the cast barely has any green on it after Zayn had attacked it one day a week after Liam had gotten it. It was covered in Zayn’s artwork as well as some doodles by Niall, Louis, and himself. Harry was just glad that unlike last time Liam hadn’t broken the arm with his chevrons because they always were his favorite of his boyfriend’s tattoos.

“Well I’m going to keep it, maybe steal it if I have too,” Liam replies and Harry chuckles as he pulls into the parking lot of the doctor’s office.

It doesn’t take long for them to be taken back and Harry has to look away when they do start getting to cutting it off because he’s always paranoid that they’ll cut Liam when they do. Liam squeezes his hand reassuringly which is ironic because Harry should be comforting Liam. That just goes to show how amazing of a person Liam is and his heart nearly bursts with love for his boyfriend for it. Once all is said and done Liam gets to keep his cast and is given the name of a good physical therapist to see for a few weeks to get his range of motion back in his arm.

“So, I was thinking we could go to Nola’s tonight to celebrate you getting your cast off,” Harry says after Liam’s taken a shower and washed his arm for the first time in eight weeks.

“That sounds great babe, I’ve been thinking about that lamb dish you had last time for weeks. Was proper good when you let me taste it,” Liam says him as he towels his hair dry.

“Great, I’ll call and see if they can give us our usual table,” he replies, picking his phone up from the bed and heading out of the room to make the call. While on the phone he gets the idea to just propose that night and have the waiter hide the ring in the dessert. He knows that it’s a bit of a cliché move, but he figures that simple might be the way to go at this point.

It doesn’t take them long to get ready and head out the door once it’s time for them to leave. When they get there Harry slyly slips the ring box into the host’s pocket knowing that it will make its way to the proper channel. They sit down and as they do Harry does a quick scan to see if anyone they know is there and alone or on the verge of being dumped. Thankfully there isn’t.

Once he realizes that the restaurant is free of familiar faces beside the staff he relaxes because this time there isn’t any way that they won’t walk out of there an engaged couple. Harry hasn’t eaten anything that could potentially give him food poisoning and Liam will be sitting the whole time so there’s no way he can break his arm.

“I actually have some news,” Liam informs him after they’ve ordered appetizers.

“Oh really? I’m all ears,” Harry says hoping that it has something to do with the record label since Liam has been rushing around with Louis for the past two weeks doing things that he won’t tell Harry about.

“Louis and I signed our first artist yesterday. The paperwork went through this morning,” Liam tells him eyes shining as he vibrates in his seat making Harry worry that maybe he will have to bring Liam to the A&E after all.

“Babe that’s amazing! I’m so proud of you,” he exclaims leaning across the table to pull Liam towards him for a kiss.

“I didn’t want to say anything because they were in talks with Columbia as well and I didn’t think we would actually get the deal but we did.”

“Now you’ve got to tell me all about them!”

“It’s a trio that Louis saw at a bar a few weeks ago The lead singer, Jessa, has this amazing vocal range, like it’s crazy what she can do. Keith plays bass and keyboards, and Marcy plays guitar. The way that they play together is like magic Haz, it really is.”

“Sounds like you and Lou got some good ones.”

“We really did. I can’t wait to play you some of their stuff, its ace,” Liam tells him, an excited glint in his eye as he does. Harry is so happy to see the look on Liam’s face because he knows how much Liam and Louis have put into this label. To see that it’s finally paying off makes Harry feel so proud he could burst with it. He felt the same when Zayn’s solo album went to number one and when Gemma got her first exhibition for her photographs.

“Have you talked about when you two are going to make the announcement yet?” Harry asks.

“No not yet, we’re going to be meeting with them tomorrow and we’ll probably go over it then,” Liam replies just before there’s a bit of commotion two tables down from them. Both Harry and Liam look over and find a bloke on bended knee as his girlfriend holds a cake covered ring in her palm a wide eyed look on her face. Harry can’t hear what the man says exactly in his speech but he sees the woman nod yes over and over again.

“Sweet isn’t it?” Harry asks once everyone’s clapped for them and they’ve told their waiter to send a bottle of their best champagne over to the table in congratulations.

“Yeah though it’s not quite safe is it?” Liam asks.

“How do you mean?” Harry asks his heart falling into his stomach once again.

“Like she could’ve choked on it, or chipped a tooth or something. It’s dead romantic but I just don’t like the idea I guess,” Liam answers with a shrug of his shoulders oblivious to the fact that he’s once again ruined Harry’s plans.

“Well it’s not for everyone,” Harry says instead of anything else and enjoys the rest of their appetizer and his side salad when it arrives a few minutes later. After he feels it’s been the right amount of time he excuses himself from the table and tracks down their waiter near the kitchen and asks for the ring back saying that he won’t be proposing tonight after all. Ring safely back in his pocket he returns to the table and spends the rest of the night putting on his best smile wondering now if this isn’t the worlds way of telling him that maybe he isn’t supposed to marry Liam after all.

**AND PLUS ONE:**

A month after Harry’s last attempt at proposing he and Liam go on a romantic getaway to the little cottage that they’d rented for their six month anniversary in Sweden while on tour. The weather is perfect for July, not too hot and no rain in the forecast for their week away. They hadn’t been able to explore much the last time they were there because they’d only been able to stay for four days that were mostly spent holed up inside. It had been on that trip that they’d first talked about coming out, even if it did take them another six months to actually do so.

“This place really is beautiful, we should look into buying a place around here,” Harry says as they walk around the small village’s local fresh food market buying food to cook for dinner that night.

“You say that about everywhere we go, Hazza,” Liam tells him with a smile as he swings their hands back and forth.

“Because it’s true,” he tells Liam slightly exacerbated, it’s not his fault he loves the world so much.

“I know babe, but while we do have quite a large amount of money, we don’t have enough to buy a place in every single city or village we visit.”

“I can dream, can’t I?” he asks.

“Course you can babe, but yeah I think this place would be nice to have a little vacation home in,” Liam finally agrees causing Harry to beam at his boyfriend. The rest of the afternoon passes quickly and they have fun cooking dinner together that night and then eating it out on the porch under the stars.

“Thank you for bringing us here Liam,” Harry whispers as they cuddle up under a blanket back on the porch after they finish eating and cleaning up.

“My pleasure, got some good memories here don’t we?” Liam asks running his fingers through Harry’s hair making Harry just burrow closer.

“Course we do,” he replies a bit sleepily closing his eyes as Liam moves the porch swing back and forth with his foot gently rocking them.

“How about making a few more?”

“Always up for that,” he answers with a chuckle opening his eyes and looking up at Liam who’s already staring at him. Something in Liam’s gaze makes him go quiet, a feeling deep in his gut telling him that something important is about to happen swirls around. He waits as Liam continues to stare at him before nodding to himself slightly and moving Harry off his chest so they’re both sitting up. Liam then takes Harry’s hands in his and starts speaking so softly Harry can barely hear it over the sound of his heart in his ears.

“When we came here the first time was when we really became solid and made me realize that what we have together is what I’ve been looking for almost my whole life. You know I was so cautious about the two of us after everything that happened with Sophia and Dani and you were just so patient with me as I got used to being with you. This place is where I really one-hundred percent fell in love with you and I just I knew this is where I wanted us to be when I asked you a very important question,” Liam says that same charm and love filled voice that has captivated him for eight years now. Harry himself is glued to his spot, his eyes widening when he realizes what Liam is doing as he watches as Liam gets down on one knee and pulls out a box and opens it, looks up at him and asks,

“Harry Styles will you marry me?”

The question takes Harry’s breath away. He’s been so focused on doing the proposing that hearing Liam actually say those words shocks him and fills him with an unidentified emotion. It takes him a moment to realize that it’s complete unbridled joy like he’s never felt before. Hearing those words spoken to him is something that he never knew until this moment that he’s been wanting but now that it’s happened it’s amazing. As he realizes this though is when it hits him that he hasn’t answered yet.

“Yes, fuck yes, course Li,” he chokes out once he gets his voice back and Liam beams at him as he slips the ring on his Harry’s finger and pulls him close to kiss him. Halfway through the kiss Harry doesn’t know what comes over him but he starts to chuckle and then full on laugh. Liam pulls away and stares at him like he’s gone crazy.

“Haz are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s just, I’ve carrying this around with me for almost six months, trying to propose to _you_ and you beat me to it,” he replies holding out the box he’s had with him the whole trip.

“What? You have?” Liam asks.

“I’ve tried like five times and every single time you accidentally messed it up!” he exclaims with a smile, because while at the time he was quite annoyed by it now he just finds it funny, because in the end he’s engaged to Liam anyways.

“But when?”

“The first time was when you invited Kevin to eat with us at Nola’s, then I planned a romantic evening in but you invited Zayn over after he had a fight with Perrie. I didn’t really plan it the third time but I was going to propose that night I got food poisoning from those eggs you cooked. Then I planned a scavenger hunt out for you and you broke your arm, and finally that last time we went to Nola’s and the guy put the ring in the dessert you said that was dangerous and I had planned to do that,” Harry admits and he watches as Liam’s eyes grow wide and soft as he talks.

“Well, you can still ask me now,” Liam finally says after a few moments of silence.

“Really?”

“Yeah go on, give me the full Harry Styles proposal experience,” Liam requests with a twinkle in his eye. Harry smiles at Liam and gets off the porch swing and down on one knee with the ring in his fingers and says,

“Liam Payne, I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a very long time so all I’m going to say is that I love you and I would really fucking like it if you would marry me.”

“Course Haz,” Liam answers and Harry beams up at him before he slips the ring on his finger and they kiss again.

Their kisses soon turn heated and they retire to their bedroom for the night, staying up until the wee hours of the morning tiring themselves out. When Harry wakes up in the late morning the sun catches the light of both of their rings and he smiles. It might’ve been Liam in the end who proposed first but finally Harry had asked the man he loves to marry him and now gets to start a new chapter of his life, Liam forever by his side.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I enjoyed writing this and hope you enjoyed reading it! And now that authors have been revealed feel free to come talk to me on my [tumblr](http://xothesecondstartotherightxo.tumblr.com/) <3


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